Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences
ECU’s Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences houses the programs in Biology and in the Environmental Health Sciences. Across these two programs there are 9 different bachelors degrees. This diverse department trains students to become biologists, medical professionals, public health workers, and environmental safety officers. The BES Department also houses graduate programs with Masters in Biological Sciences, Water Sciences or Health Sciences.
Hands-On Learning
All BES programs and associated degrees include coursework in Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Computer Science, and Physics. The department has a mission-driven commitment to experiential learning evidenced by faculty highly active in research projects and the only undergraduate dedicated research facility in the state of Oklahoma, the Dr. Raniyah Ramadan Center for Undergraduate Research and Learning (CURL) laboratories.
Unique among universities, ECU has made a commitment to supporting the high-impact practice of undergraduate research. ECU is the only regional university in Oklahoma to have a dedicated research facility for undergraduates. The CURL laboratories house a collaborative network of laboratories with active projects ranging from in vitro biochemistry of viral oncoproteins, finding new antibiotics in plant and soil extracts, deep sequencing of viromes and microbiomes, identification of imported fungal pathogens and through collaboration with the Oka institute analysis of water and soil quality.